Decorating strip with heat activated adhesive



April 21, 1953 s, TERRY 2,6355974- DECORATING STRIP WITH HEAT ACTIVATED ADHESIVE Fi led Nov. 15, 1949 IN VEN TOR. Samuel M. Terry By r- #4 AGENTS.

Patented Apr. 21, u 1953 DECORATING s'rmr WITH HEAT ACTIVATED ADHESIVE Samuel M. Terry, Columbus, Ohio, assignor, by mesne assignments, to The United States-Play-v ing Card Company, Cincinnati, Ohio, at corpo-; ration of Ohio, and National Publishing Company, Philadelphia, P

sylvania a., acorporation of Penn Application'November 15, i949, Serial No. 127,306

This invention pertains to a carrier-backed decorating material, and more particularly to a carrier-backed decorating material having incorporated therewith a heat activated adhesive.

It was originally the practice to decorate fiat surfaces or the edges of book sheets, playing cards or the like with a thin metallic. leaf, such as gold, silver or the like, by first cleaning and otherwise preparing the surface, applying an ad- 'hesive thereto, .and then applying the unsup.

ported leaf to the adhesively treated surface. If desired, pressure or heat and pressure were used. This is a tedious, time-consuming andcostly job and requires specially trained and skilled workmen. Such practice is still followed in the decorating of the edges of book sheets and cards in particular, and to a great extent in decorating and/or embossing other items. Unsuccessful attempts have been made to facilitate the application of such decorative metal foil to the edges of book sheets, playing cards, or the like, by providing a carrier-backing strip to which the foil is held by a release material, the carrier-backed foil being applied to a continuously adhesively treated surface, and fixed thereto by pressure or heat and pressure, and the carrier-backing then stripped or peeled from the foil, leaving that surface of the foil adjacent the carrierbacking exposed.

From the foregoing it should be apparent that the decoration of fiat surfaces, the edges of playing cards, or book sheets with a metallic foil has been an expensive and time-consuming procedure. It is therefore one object of this invention to provide a material for decorating the edges of book sheets, playing cards, or the like, and other surfaces, in a relatively simple and substantially inexpensive manner such as to eliminate the expensive and time-consuming operations heretofore necessary.

It is another object of this invention to provide a carrier-backed decorative foil having a heat activated adhesive incorporated therewith adaptable to the decoration of the edges of book sheets, playing cards or the like.

It is a further object of this invention to provide a material for decorating the edges of book sheets, playing cards, or the like, which is simple to use, inexpensive, and which will permit the decoration of at least one entire side edge of a group of book sheets, playing cards, or the like, assembled en masse, all in one operation.

Various other objects and advantageous features of the invention may be had from the following description, when read in conjunction with the following drawing, which is a fragmentary perspective view showing a carrier-backed decorative strip, the individualparts being exaggerated in size for purposes of clarity.

In accordance with this. invention, a carrier,- backing ill of suitable material such as plastic, cellulose acetate, cellophane, or the like has applied thereto a film or coating of release material II. This film ofarelease material may be applied in a variety of ways, vacuum evaporation being a very satisfactory method. The only requirements for the backing strip are thatit be fiexiblahavea smoothsurface and be substantially non-elastic. Alkali halide salts such as potassium bromide (KBr), potassium iodide (KI), and waxes are good release materials. Having had a film or coating of release material ll applied to said carrier, a film or coating of decorative material [2, such as gold, silver, aluminum, brass, or other material is then applied to the release material. This may also be applied by vacuum evaporation. Thereafter a heat activated adhesive I3 is applied to the decorative material.

The primary requisites for an adhesive are that it be stronger than the release material, so that when the carrier is stripped from the decorative film, the decorative film will remain attached to the adhesive, and that the adhesive be not rubbery or elastic. The second requirement is essential in the case of book page edges or card edges. In this latter case, the adhesive must be of such a nature that, while fixably securing the decorative film to each individual sheet edge, it will still fracture or separate along lines of strain. For example, when the leaves of a book or individual cards are separated the decorative film should also separate so that the edges of the book sheets or cards will be decorated in such a manner as to present a continuously decorated surface when the book sheets or card edges are realigned in side-by-side relation.

Polyamide adhesives formed from ethylene diamine and dimerized, trimerized linoleic and linolenic acids have proven very successful as heat activated adhesives. This type of polyamide, used singly, or mixed with other resins, may be applied to the decorative film by brushing, dipping, spraying, or any other satisfactory means.

In using this novel carrier-backed decorative film, the carrier-backed decorative strip, having the adhesive incorporated therewith, is merely placed with the adhesive side down on a prepared surface, such as a fiat leather surface, or the 3 smooth surface formed by the edges of playin cards or book leaves assembled in side-by-side relation. Thereafter, heat, or heat and pressure, is applied tothecarrier side of the-carrier-backed decorative material and the carrier is then removed, leaving the decorative foil firmly adhered to the prepared surface. In the case of playing cards or book leaves, the leaves. oncards may then be rifiled and separated, and when-re'alinged will present a continuously decorated surface.

Playing cards usually have ashellac or shellac and wax surface. The heat-'usedin activating the polyamide adhesive in the case .of playing cards therefore must be carefully :controlled. Only enough heat should be used to activate the adhesive, and not enough detrimentally to affect the surface of the p1aying-ca'rds.

Carrier-backed decorative strips having polyamide type adhesives are ideally suited for the edge gliding of booksysince water soluble or organic :solvent type adhesives may deleteriously affect book sheets.

It should be apparent from the above description that there has'b'een' devised a novel and extremely useful-carrier-backed decorative strip having incorporated therewith a heat activated like.

' While this inventionhas been described inits preferred 'embo'dimentdt is-to be understood that the words that have been used are words of description rather than of limitation, and that changes within the purview of the appended claim may be made without departing from the true scope and-spirit of the invention.

What is claimed is: A carrier-backed decorative material characterized by itsability, upon application to a surface formed from the edges of a plurality of relatively thin sheets and release or the backing portion; to 'maintain a decorative film on each individual sheetsedge yet fracture uniformly upon separation 0f=such sheet edges, and comprising a carrier backing, a release material directly bonded to'saidjcarrier backing, a film of metallic decorative material directly bonded to said release material.andapolyamide adhesive, formed from ethylene diamine and dimerized, trimerized,

linoleic' and linolenic acids, directly bonded to said film of decorativematerial.

SAMUEL M.. TERRY.

References" Cited in .the file of this patent UNITED-STATES PATENTS 

